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Classical music hyper-production

Works for other ensembles

Mozart Marriage of Figaro

A further proposed project will develop a contemporary re-arrangement of two arias from The Marriage of Figaro for students from the Royal Academy of Music.

Chamber Song

Using the aesthetic of contemporary singer-songwriter recordings that utilise a sense of proximity and intimacy to create a sensation of direct and authentic communication, this production, once again working with students from the Royal Academy of Music and the London College of Music, will experiment with performance, arranging and production techniques.

Haydn Symphony no.104

Working with the English Chamber Orchestra, Simon Zagorski-Thomas has submitted a funding bid to facilitate an extraordinary multi-media recording project with the Performing Rights Society For Music Trust. Using editing, dub mixing and processing techniques drawn from reggae, hip-hop and electronic music, Simon Zagorski-Thomas will create a multifaceted work based on a series of radical 're-compositions' of Haydn's 'London' Symphony. The orchestra would be recorded at LCM with the university covering the recording costs.

The initial performance would involve filming the conductor and recording the orchestra playing Haydn's Symphony No.104, a piece on the AQA A Level syllabus. Each player would then re-record their part so that all 37 performances were captured in isolation. The piece would also be staged as an educational installation in two venues, the University of West London and King's Place. Visitors could listen to these 're-compositions' but the installation allows them to deconstruct the original as well as listen to the new works. Based on Janet Cardiff's Forty Part Motet (2001) where she had forty speakers in a gallery with one voice per speaker, our exhibit has the video of the conductor at the front of the hall and a speaker for each 'chair' in the orchestra playing the individual player's part.

The piece is played on a loop so visitors can walk in and out at will, 'get inside' the music - they can stand and listen to the whole orchestra, a single part or wander around. The piece would be part of the orchestra's outreach program, encouraging interest in the ECO and in classical music in general. It would also promote A-Level music education at a time of flagging interest.

Palestrina Ad Dominum Cum Tribularer

Simon Zagorski-Thomas and Andrew Bourbon will be working with vocal students from Wroclaw Music Academy and a group of MA Record Production and doctoral students from LCM at the historic palace of Piotrowice Nyskie in Poland. Using a range of interesting acoustic spaces in this Renaissance Palace and its out-buildings, Palestrina's motet will be re-interpreted utilising production techniques drawn from popular music production and exploring the expressive potential of spatial processing.